The Ron Paul Revolution lives!!

I just got this absolutely killer Ron Paul video from  www.HighTidepromo.com.

Ron Paul wins! and so does the human race

As the Democratic presidential race descends to new depths of personal negativity and John McCain disintegrates,  the cause of human liberty has emerged as the clear winner in the 2008 presidential race.

 

A little over a year ago few people had ever heard of Ron Paul, there were no Ron Paul meet up groups.  Rudy Giuliani was a shoo-in to win the Republican nomination and probably the presidency.  The Republican Party was firmly in the hands of the big government neo-cons and the Libertarian party was as usual pondering its naval.

Cultural change has to happen before political change and as Avery Knapp, leader of New York City’s Ron Paul meet-up puts it “ collectivism won the 20^th century”. 

What a difference a year makes!  Today pretty much everyone, whether they like him or not, knows who Ron Paul is. Twenty-somethings debate non-interventionist foreign policy, the gold standard and elimination of the Fed and the IRS.  By the way they don’t debate “whether” on these issues, they debate “how”.

Of course that debate hasn’t made it through the thick skulls of the vast majority of major party candidates yet or even a majority of voters.  But no one is dismissing the Ron Paul Revolution anymore either. 

Let’s look at a few areas where the Ron Paul Revolution won resounding victories. The internet is considered by many to be the campaign tool of the future and the Ron Paul Revolution buries the competition with 106,000 meet-up group members, in over 1500 meetups.  Mike Huckabee is a distant second with 19,000 members and 496 groups.  But let’s look at what those meetups are doing.  Ron Paul meetups are 10 times more active than Huckabee’s and account for about 90% of all presidential meetup activities.

Candidate            Members         Groups            meetup events

Ron Paul                 106,000          1500            37,000

Mike Huckabee        19,000            496               3,600

Barak Obama             7,000            105               1,000

Hillary Clinton             1,800              36                  334

John McCain                   36                1                      0

Source: http://www.meetup.com/topics/polact/cand/pres/

How about fund-raising?  Of course the party of big money, the Democrats, have their fangs much deeper into corporate America. Clinton and Obama have each raised about $140 million primarily from people connected to financial institutions and law firms.  McCain gets his money from people in similar industries and firms but he has only raised about $50 million.

Compared to the big money crowd Ron Paul, having raised about $32 million, might not look like much.  But as Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney know, money can’t always by you love.   And when an unknown guy who ”had no chance” raises nearly as much as the winner of the Republican nomination you have to ask yourself where it all came from.  It turns out that the guy who wants to bring the troops home from everywhere, and leave health care to the free market gets much of his money from people in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Health Care. 

It’s also worth mentioning that “budget-balancer” John McCain has about  $5.2 million cash on hand and about $5.5 million in debt.  You do the math.  Is that how he’d run the country?   In contrast “crazy” Ron Paul has about $6 million cash on hand and 0 debt.  What? Zero debt?  Excuse me – I’ll have what he’s having.

Sources: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/moneyweb.asp?cycle=2008

What’s wrong with this picture? 

The democrats are busy spewing venom.

The big government Republican nominee has more debt than money and his army consists of a professional campaign staff.  The sitting Republican President is a world-class bozo with record low approval ratings and the neo-cons are in disarray.

On the other hand, the Ron Paul Revolution is flush with cash and bursting with young, energized, committed volunteers who are busy right now expanding their grass-roots decentralized, free market network.  They are preparing for phase 2:  running Freedom Movement candidates, raising awareness and educating the public as to why Human Liberty works better for everyone, and taking action to change outcomes in DC, State Houses and City Halls.

As Arlo Guthrie said if “50 people a day do it they call it a movement.”  This one goes by a few names, the Freedom Movement or perhaps the Second American Revolution and it’s happening now, right before your eyes.  Everyone doesn’t agree on everything.  That’s the beauty of the free market.  But we share a belief in Human Liberty as the best way to improve the human condition.

The majority of the Ron Paul army is Republican or “libertarian-republican” but there is a significant minority of  “libertarian-democrats” as well.   It also includes some members of the Conservative Party and Constitution Party.  We also share critical principles with social liberals.

Major party approval ratings dwindle and the Ron Paul army has declared it’s intention to save the Republican Party, to turn it away from Bush, neo-cons, big spending and war and back to principles of freedom and small government. Meanwhile, Libertarian Party membership is up 25%.    Freedom Movement candidates are starting to build their campaign teams with veterans of the Ron Paul primaries.

People are talking about non-intervention, sound money, free markets and all the other thinsg that go along with Human Liberty.

What’s wrong with this picture? 

Nothing is wrong with it.

Ron Paul wins, and so does the human race.

Iran: Do you really know what you are talking about?

Since Hillary Clinton and John McCain are both well-established Iran-baiters it might be a good idea for the rational humans among us to develop our thinking on Iran based on actual knowledge and understanding of the facts.  Somebody has to do it and in keeping with tradition the major party candidates are not up to the task.

So where should we look to understand the Iranian “problem” better. 

In the book department Scott Ritter, the former Iraq nuclear inspection chief, has written  Target Iran, which  reviews Iran’s nuclear program from the perspective of someone with first hand knowledge of the subject.  In All the Shah’s Men, Steven Kinzer details the CIA sponsored coup that ended democracy in Iran in 1952 and replaced it with the brutal Shah of Iran.

More recently,Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council has written Treacherous Alliance. This book describes the tangeled relationship among the US, Iran and Israel. Dr. Parsi was born in Iran, grew up in Sweden and earned his Doctorate at John Hopkins under (among others) Francis Fukuyama and Zbigniew Brzezinski. I’d say that’s a pretty interesting and useful perspective to balance against that of two of our least favorite Senators.

The NIAC has also just launched a brand new blog. I suspect this will be an invaluable source of information and analysis that won’t appear in the mainstream media as well as a great place to make your comments and hopefully enrich the debate in a positive way. I doubt you will have that opportunity on Fox News.

Ron Paul Certified Election Results for NYC

The Board of Elections has finally posted certified results for the primary earlier this month. Some guy named McCain won the Republican race in a landslide, as expected, but we know you’re all dying to find out how Ron Paul did in your neighborhood. So without further ado:

• 4,705 votes (5.9%), 4th place citywide
• 1,363 votes (6.2%), 4th place Manhattan
• 415 votes (7.3%), 4th place Bronx
• 1,044 votes (6.3%), 3rd place Brooklyn
• 1,351 votes (6.2%), 4th place Queens
• 532 votes (4.0%), 5th place Staten Island

So Ron Paul had his highest percentage total in the Bronx and his best ranking in Brooklyn. He did the worst in both percentage terms and in ranking in the relatively Republican stronghold of Staten Island, finishing even behind Giuliani, who had already dropped out of the race.

And, zooming in to my home Assembly District 66 on the Lower East Side, Ron Paul got 19 votes for an impressive 12.1% and third place. I’d like to think at least some of that is due to my canvassing efforts among my neighbors. (And I don’t even know if they actually counted the affidavit ballots filed by my wife and me, since they couldn’t find us in the voter book.)

View the results for your own assembly district, congressional district and more here.

McCain Hoisted by His Own Petard

As Serf City columnist and blogger Bob Armstrong has noted, John McCain’s troubles with the FEC and campaign finance regulations are nothing short of delicious. I rarely get any joy from reading political news, but the irony in this story has me positively giddy.

McCain is squirming to get off the hook from the spending limitations imposed on his campaign when he applied for political welfare (i.e., matching funds). When his campaign was on life support last summer, the welfare seemed like a great idea, but now that donations are streaming in, his campaign is noticing the potentially lethal strings that were attached.

Technically, McCain hasn’t taken any of the matching funds yet, but he did use the promise of them as collateral on a $4 million loan. So it’s a bit late, as the FEC chairman noted, to claim he never benetfited from the welfare and now wants to opt out of the spending restrictions.

The public financing system places a spending limit of $54 million on each participating candidate for the duration of the primary season — which for the Republicans doesn’t end until their convention in September. So far the McCain campaign has already spent $49 million, which means they’ll be running on fumes for the next 6 months unless they get a reprieve. Meanwhile, neither Clinton nor Obama has applied for matching funds, so they can spend to their bleeding hearts’ content.

The best part is the FEC can’t even take a vote to let McCain off the hook, because with only 2 out 6 commissioner slots filled, they lack a quorum. Bush’s other FEC nominees are bottled up in Congress.

What makes this all so delicious, of course, is that McCain’s single greatest claim to fame (aside from being held prisoner by the people whose villages he was destroying from 10,000 feet) is championing anti-free-speech “campaign finance reform” laws.

“I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected that has become corrupt,” McCain infamously told Don Imus in 2006. “If I had my choice, I’d rather have the clean government.”

McCain is getting what he wanted (and deserves), so he should be happy. He gets “clean government” at the expense of the “quote First Amendment,” while Obama spends the next 6 months taking him to the cleaners.

Cool Aimee Allen Video

I know it’s getting rather late in the game for another Ron Paul music video, but this one is so cool I had to pass it along:

Draft Bob Barr for President

I have started an online petition urging former Congressman Bob Barr to run for President on the Libertarian line, or at least to accept nomination if drafted at the Libertarian National Convention in May.

Bob Barr, in my opinion, represents our best hope for continuing the Ron Paul Revolution on a national level. There are several outstanding Ron Paul Republicans (and Libertarians) running for Congress and Senate, which is fantastic, but nothing captures the public’s or the media’s attention like a presidential campaign.

Unfortunately, Ron Paul has made it clear “there will be no 3rd party run,” and it’s equally clear that he will not receive the Republican Party’s nomination. As for the currently declared candidates for the Libertarian Party’s nomination for President, I respect and like several of them as nice people and good Libertarians, but I’d be lying if I said I could get excited about any of them as the nominee.

Bob Barr could generate that excitement. He appeals to both Libertarians (his current party) and Republicans (his former party). He’s huge on civil liberties and privacy, very strong on guns — heck, he’s even gotten good on ending the drug war, which is nothing short of miraculous. As a bonus, he helped lead the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Who wouldn’t pay good money to see Barr and Hillary share a debate stage?

In fact, there is already a lot of buzz on the Internet about the idea of a Bob Barr presidential campaign. The Revolutionaries are ready. Now all we need to do is convince Bob Barr.

Here is a video of Bob Barr introducing Ron Paul last week at CPAC. Ask yourself if he isn’t the logical choice — the only choice — to take the baton from Dr. Paul. Then go and sign the petition.

Update: It was just pointed out to me that I misspelled PRESIDENT at the top of the petition. %$#@!!! I blame Al Gore, since he invented the Internet. Seriously, I just sent an email to PetitionOnline.com tech support to see if it’s possible to fix it or remove it and start over.

Mean But Funny

Found the above image in the comments section of Wonkette’s eulogy for the Ron Paul campaign. If anyone does snark better than the bloggers at Wonkette, it’s the commenters at Wonkette.

Interestingly, some thin-skinned Ron Paul supporters are trying to “bury” Wonkette at Digg.com in retaliation. Com on, guys — learn to take a joke.

Yes we can, but what?

By Ignacio Gutiérrez
February 10, 2008

It was only a matter of time until someone successfully invoked JFK’s image alongside Barack Obama’s timely call for change and hope beyond mere comparison. And with Theodore Sorensen endorsing Obama, it’s no accident either. The legendary speechwriter for JFK has claimed giving Obama “a phrase or suggestion or two”.

And for “the cynics who believed that what began in the snows of Iowa was just an illusion” as Obama stated after winning the South Carolina primary, there’s something for them too. A video making it’s rounds on the internet, replete with celebrities singing out the phrase “Yes we can” along with excerpts from other speeches.

OK, so I’m one of those cynics. And yet, I personally like Obama. He’s refreshingly honest, genuine and an optimist to say the least. It’s great that he’s managed to thwart apathy among voters and is getting more and more people involved. But his message and his following are starting to get a little creepy.

Democracy is the worst form of government if people choose evil, Churchill once said. While it would be an incredibly far stretch to label Obama as such, for anyone familiar with the Spanish translation of “yes, we can”, “si se puede”, and it’s overt use by the Castro regime in Cuba, this subtle call for socialism hits a little too close to home.

Ask anyone who has even traveled to Cuba and seen the inordinate amount of communist propaganda that puts Nike ad campaigns to shame. It’s unspoken and subtle reminder to everyone of its citizens that “yes we can” imprison you for decades without even so much as a trial by judge or jury for daring to question the common good and supposed “will of the people”, reverberates from every other street corner throughout the country.

Were it not for the fact that “si se puede” is actually referenced in the video, with someone even pumping their fist into the air, perhaps this connection would be superfluous. But whether by accident or design, the actual speech’s message is unmistakable. And just like clockwork, it’s timed to the best and noblest of intentions.

“It’s not about rich vs. poor” Obama mentions. However, the part where we “can’t afford another four years without decent wages because our leaders couldn’t come together and get it done” misses one obvious point. It’s not up to government to decide wages, its up to the marketplace, ie the people speaking with their dollars. And what better way for them to lose their jobs to foreign markets than by imposing mandatory wage increases on companies and increasing their costs of production, not to mention the cost of living for everyone overall.

“There are those who will continue to tell us that we can’t do this, that we can’t have what we’re looking for, that we can’t have what we want, that we’re peddling false hopes.” Intentionally peddling false hopes, maybe not. But then again, informing and educating people as to how the economy of any society functions most effectively and efficiently when government gets out of our way and stops mixing up our rights with entitlement programs has never been the hallmark of any Democratic, let alone socialist rhetoric.

Hopefully Sorensen will pen a more compelling line for Obama and all of us to follow. One as inspiring as “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. At least that one didn’t foster an entitlement mindset. Instead it motivated people to give more than they took and drove many to find and even create their own opportunities and destinies as opposed to expecting prosperity to be doled out like some welfare check. It almost demanded people take responsibility for themselves, and yet still be there for one another.

“Yes, we can heal this nation.” Sure, as soon as government stops intruding in our lives and the marketplace and ends the slow and steady pace towards a nanny state that could imperceptibly morph into a totalitarian one. Then there’ll be no doubt that “yes, we can seize our future” once again.

Ron Paul: “There Will Be No Third Party Run”

Anyone (like me) who was hoping that Ron Paul would run as a Libertarian or independent candidate for President once the Republican primaries ran their course can forget it. Dr. Paul slammed the door firmly shut on such notions in an email to supporters this evening:

 February 8, 2008

Whoa! What a year this has been. And what achievements we have had. If I may quote Trotsky of all people, this Revolution is permanent. It  will not end at the Republican convention. It will not end in November. It will not end until we have won the great battle on which we have embarked. Not because of me, but because of you. Millions of Americans – and friends in many other countries — have dedicated themselves to the principles of liberty: to free enterprise, limited government, sound money, no income tax, and peace. We will not falter so long as there is one restriction on our persons, our property, our civil liberties. How much I owe you. I can never possibly repay your generous donations, hard work, whole-hearted dedication and love of freedom. How blessed I am to be associated with you. Carol, of course, sends her love as well.

Let me tell you my thoughts. With Romney gone, the chances of a brokered convention are nearly zero. But that does not affect my determination to fight on, in every caucus and primary remaining, and at the convention for our ideas, with just as many delegates as I can get. But with so many primaries and caucuses now over, we do not now need so big a national campaign staff, and so I am making it leaner and tighter. Of course, I am committed to fighting for our ideas within the Republican party, so there will be no third party run. I do not denigrate third parties — just the opposite, and I have long worked to remove the ballot-access restrictions on them. But I am a Republican, and I will remain a Republican.